Fanspeak is the

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gr ...

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...

current in science fiction and fantasy fandom, especially those terms in use among readers and writers of

science fiction fanzine A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" wa ...

s. Fanspeak is made up of

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

s, blended words, obscure in-jokes,

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s, coinages from science fiction novels or films, and archaic or standard English words used in specific ways relevant or amusing to the science fiction community.

Evolution

Many terms used in fanspeak have spread to members of the

Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...

Renaissance Fair A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...

participants, fantasy football players, and

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

and

chat Chat or chats may refer to: Communication * Conversation, particularly casual * Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time * Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat * SMS chat, a form of text messagin ...

fans, due to the social and contextual intersection between the communities. Common examples of widespread usages are: * ''fen'' as the plural of ''fan'' * ''fannish'' "of or relating to fans and fandom" * ''gafiate'' (verb), an acronym for "getting away from it all" (i.e., leaving fandom, temporarily or permanently) * ''fafiate'' (verb), an acronym for "forced away from it all" (i.e., being forced to leave fandom for personal or professional reasons) A few fannish terms have become standard English, such as

fanzine A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share ...

, short for "fan magazine", coined by

Russ Chauvenet Louis Russell Chauvenet (February 12, 1920 – June 24, 2003) was a champion chess player and one of the founders of science fiction fandom. Biography Chess Chauvenet was the U.S. Amateur Champion in 1959, as well as state champion for Virginia ...

in 1940, which swiftly replaced the older term ''fanmag''. Conversely, some fannish terms have been made obsolete by changes in technology (the decline of the

mimeograph A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the proc ...

has doomed ''corflu'' for "

correction fluid A correction fluid is an opaque, usually white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. Once dried, it can be handwritten or typed upon. It is typically packaged in small bottles, lids attached to brushes (or triangular pieces of foam) th ...

"), cultural changes (a ''femmefan emale fanis no longer unusual) or the mere passage of time ('' slan shack'' for "a house where a bunch of fans live together" has faded, since fewer young fans have read '' Slan'' by A. E. van Vogt). ''Slan'' also produced one of the most common fan idioms: "Fans are slans". Fanspeak is so interwoven into the fabric of fandom that it is difficult to discuss fandom without resorting to fannish terms such as '' fanac'' "fannish activity" or ''

filk music Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defin ...

'' (originally a typo for "folk music").

Sociology

Like other forms of jargon, fanspeak serves as a means of inclusion and exclusion within the fannish community. In the 1970s, the use of traditional fanspeak separated the

and convention-attending subcommunity (sometimes distinguished as ''trufen'' or "true fans") from fans of science fiction movies and television shows (''mediafen''). The division of the community into trufen and others is rejected by many fans as inherently unfannish.Fanspeak Dictionary
see entry ''trufan'' Today, subsets of fanspeak define subcommunities within fandom. For example, ''ringers'' for "fans of

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

" is used primarily by fans of the

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

films (see also

Tolkien fandom Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. The concept of Tolkie ...

References

External links

Fancyclopedia I
by John Bristol (

Jack Speer John Bristol Speer (August 9, 1920 – June 28, 2008) was an attorney, practicing law for over 60 years; a judge; and a member of the Washington House of Representatives. Also a long-time science fiction fan and important early historian of scie ...

), the Fantasy Foundation, 1944
Fancyclopedia II
published 1959
Fancyclopedia III
a wiki incorporating the first two Fancyclopedias and supplemented by other sources and ongoing contributions, led by Jim Caughran (though 2010), Mark Olson. Jack Weaver and Joe Siclari

This was originally posted in rec.arts.sf.fandom in 1999 by Cally Soukup, summarizing a talk by speech therapist Karyn Ashburn at

Minicon Minicon is a science fiction and fantasy convention in Minneapolis usually held on Easter weekend. Started in 1968 and running approximately annually since then, it is one of the oldest science fiction conventions in the midwest United States. ...

.
"The Language of Science-Fiction Fan Magazines," Bruce Southard, ''American Speech'', Vol. 57, No. 1. (Spring, 1982), pp. 19-31Fanlore
A fan wiki with a large section dedicated to defining fandom terminology

Glossaries

Dr. Gafia's Fan Terms
by rich brown

by Donald Franson for the National Fantasy Fan Federation, 1962. A classic glossary that predates laser printers, the internet, and media fandom.

* ttp://www.readersadvice.com/cons/glossary.html Fanspeak Glossary at ReadersAdvice.combr>Fanspeak Glossary at the NCF Guide
edited by Bob Tucker (1955) at eFanzines. Another classic glossary that predates laser printers, the internet, and media fandom.
The Conbledegook File
{{Fantasy fiction Language varieties and styles Science fiction fandom Fantasy fandom